12 Months Old

Dear Miles, 

Here I am writing your 12 Month letter, and you're already 14 months - oops!!!! I guess it should have a different title...Time has been flying lately. Faster than usual. Not long after your 1st Birthday, your daddy was offered a job in Auburn, AL. We decided to take the job and move our family back "home." I'm so excited you will now get to grow up living near both sets of your grandparens! Since then, everything has been crazy. We did VBS for a week, sold our home, packed our home, said goodbye to friends, and we've been living at Nana and Papa J's house for a little less than a month now. I am just now feeling settled enough to start blogging again. Soon, we will be moving to our new home here in Opelika, and I will be too busy to blog again :) I wanted to write your last letter before I forget everything.

Let me first say that you are an absolute precious baby boy (yes, you're still my baby)! You are PACKED FULL of life! You try to keep up with all of us in all that we do, and you do a pretty good job! You especially have to keep up with Carter - it's tiring being your referee but the two of you are adorable playing and romping around together! Some of my favorite moments are when you cuddle up to me and lay your head on my shoulder (after you wake up & when you meet stranger). It doesn't happen often, but it warms my heart every time.

Here's you at your 1st Birthday: 

Here's a picture of you and your brother (2 years 10 months):

On a regular basis, Carter will say "Come on Miles, let's doe play." I also hear "No, Miles, Noooooooooooo" on a regular basis :) You guys stick together. At all times - good, bad, or ugly.

Here are some of the things we did the past few months: 

• You got a water table for your 1st Birthday. We have enjoyed playing with it. We will miss this backyard! 

• We went to Bamie's college graduation in Dayton, TN. 

• We went on a hike on Mother's Day and enjoyed time as a family. You couldn't stay awake on the hike back to the car! 

• We had a playdate at Big Spring Park and fed the ducks/geese/fish...you fed yourself.

• We attended our Sunday School class going away party in Huntsville. You and your friend Tyler loved sitting in the pink jeep. I don't think either of you cared a bit that it was pink :)

• You and your brother LOVE riding around in the John Deere Gator at grandmama and granddaddy's house. You are always the passenger, but I have a feeling you'll be driving soon!

• We celebrated the 4th of July, and you even got to hold your first sparkler - with LOTS of help!

Here are some things you are doing now: 

• At 1 year, you weigh 22 lbs. 12 oz. (50th) and you were 30 1/2 in. long (75th).
• You weaned very well. You went down to 2 feedings a day, and then daddy took me on a weekend getaway for my 30th birthday. You stayed with grandmama and were totally weaned to whole milk when we got home! You still take a bottle with warmed whole milk about 2-3 times a day. I'm not going to take that away from you at this point since our lives have had a lot of changes recently.
• You do not eat any babyfood anymore. You eat everything we eat. 
• At 13 months, you decided you were going to use a spoon and fork, and you're not too bad at it! You pretty much won't let us feed you anymore, but you get frustrated that you can't feed yourself :) 
• At 14 months, you decided you didn't want to sit at a high chair. You now sit in a booster seat like a big boy. 
• You're drinking from a big boy sippy cup now (at 14 months).
• You have 8 teeth (4 on top, 4 on bottom).
• You sleep about 12-13 hours every night.
• You take two naps a day. You are not even close to dropping a morning nap!
• You took your first connected steps on the day of your first birthday party (May 4th)! You started getting pretty good at connected steps just before we moved to Opelika. You are now (as of the first week in July) an all out walker! You try your hardest to keep up with Carter.
• You like your bouncy zebra toy you got for your first birthday. 
• You love to slide! 

• You are a climber. You climb up onto chairs, couches, tables, benches, beds, and you try to jump off. Luckily, I have been there to catch you most of the big jumps. I don't think you fear anything.
• You can shake your head "no" now (@ 14 mos)
• You can say mama, but you REFUSE to do it! Now (@14 mos.) you shake your head no when I ask you to say mama. You will say dada and run to the door. You love your daddy. You give him more snuggles than anyone else (Grandmama is next on that list). You say Nana, and Nana is pretty proud of that :) 
• You like to pretend to shoot guns. Yes, you live in a majority-boy household. You make  the funniest little high-pitched lip sound when you are "shooting." Your brother and daddy taught you this. 
• Your favorite toy is ANYTHING your brother is still playing with! 

Here is your typical schedule...

8:00am - Wake up / Breakfast & Milk / Play

10:00 - 11:30am - Naptime (you drink the rest of your breakfast milk before going down)

11:30am - Play

12:30pm - Lunch & Milk 

1:30 pm - Naptime (you drink the rest of your lunch milk before going down)

3:30 - 4:00pm - Wake and Play / Snack

6:00pm - Dinner & Milk

7:30-8pm - Bathtime (on bath nights) / Milk / Bed

REPEAT...

I can't believe I've written you an entire year of letters already. Like I tell you on a regular basis, "God made you so special, and he has a special plan for your life." Always remember that. I cannot wait for you to start talking more and more and get to see how your language and life develops over the next year. I will update the blog as I can. We are going to have a lot going on this Fall! I'm pretty excited :)

I Love You,

Mommy

PS. This is what your brother did when he was 1 year  old. 

I'm Glad He Has Plans for Us!

Oh my, how our life has changed recently. Here's a summary of this past month for my own memory...

Background - we have felt led to move closer to family for about 9 months or so now. We have been praying and applying for jobs here and there, interviewing, etc... Didn't really think anything would come-up, and if it did - we didn't think that it would be "good enough" for us to actually consider.

May 20th - Kevin received a great job offer - in Auburn (where both sets of our parents live)!

I cried because I was happy; I cried because I was sad; I cried because I didn't want to leave friends; I cried because I couldn't believe God did it - exactly what we had asked; I cried because I didn't want to leave our church; I cried because I didn't want to stay in Huntsville and miss an opportunity we had prayed specifically for; and I just cried because I needed to cry; AND we prayed hard for the next few days...

May 29th - Kevin accepted the job offer! I called the realtor, and started cleaning the house like crazy!!!

May 31st - Our home was listed on the market. 

June 2-5 - Mom came up and helped me pack the kitchen (biggest job ever - why do we need so much stuff to cook food!?!?!?!)

June 3-7 - I helped with Willowbrook's 4th Grade VBS while trying to keep our house spotless for possible buyers who didn't seem to be coming....

June 7th - First family came to look at the house! 

June 8th - They came back!

June 9th - They made an offer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

June 10th - We accepted the offer :) Side note: My mom, dad, and sister were all in Mexico for the week on a mission trip, and it KILLED me that I couldn't call them to tell them about all of this!!!

June 13th - Our Sunday School Class had a going away party for us. We LOVE them all so dearly, and will miss every. single. family. We almost couldn't make this decision to leave because we sooo did not want to leave these dear friends!!! Tears.

June 16th - Sad: Our Last Sunday at Willowbrook :( Happy: Father's Day! & Kevin's parents came to help finish packing up...

June 17th - Home Inspection...More packing...

June 18th - We moved to Auburn. We put all our stuff in storage, and we now live with Kevin's parents in Auburn. I believe the appropriate Southern term here is, "Bless their hearts." I am trying not to be in the way, but we are. It's impossible not to be, but they have been nothing but welcoming, helpful, and patient...so very patient! The boys have loved every minute at Nana and Papa J's house so far. They have a pool, so we can swim - a lot. The down side? Well, a 1 year old, a 2 year old, and a pool = no relaxing...don't want kids to drown! I will not be buying a house with a pool!  

June 20th - Kevin started his new job, and I started the home search by looking at 18+ homes all in one day. The plus side: Nana watched the boys and Grandmama came with me :) The down side: I think it almost killed my poor (& preggo) friend & realtor! 

Today: We are still house hunting... Kevin is really enjoying his job! 

Our lives have changed - QUICKLY and DRASTICALLY! 

but, 

God surprised us!

God has blessed us! 

God has provided for us!

God is in control, and he has a plan for our lives!

"For I know the plans I have for you,"declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

PS. I will be back later with Miles's 12 month blog post. LOOOOOONG overdue... Haven't had much time for blogging, but I think things are slowing down for a minute or two before we find a house :)

End of the School Year

I can't believe the summer is here! I have several posts up my sleeves (yes, one of those is the long-overdue Miles's One Year Blog:) However, I only have time for a short and sweet post today, so here you go!

Carter has really enjoyed going to the Master's Way UMC Mother's Day Out program for the past year. It has been such a blessing for him to have something to do just 1 day a week while I get my shopping done with only 1 baby in tow! 

On the last day of school, they had their Summer program, and Carter did so well! He stood on stage for the entire program (4 songs), he sang 1 whole song and a few other lines, and he didn't cry at all! That is HUGE progress! After the show, his teacher told us that if he stood on the blue line and didn't get off, she would give him a sucker :) Either way, we were so proud of our lil' monkey! 

He sang the whole "5 Little Monkies" Song

After the program, we had a family picnic at the school and gave his teacher's their end of the year gifts. I got the idea from this blog. Such a fun summer gift!!!

We said our goodbyes, and headed home for the summer! 

Bamie's Graduation

This past weekend, we traveled to Dayton, TN to celebrate my lil' sister's graduation from Bryan College! I cannot believe she's done with school. In some ways, she is still 10 years old in my brain (that's how old she was when I left for college)! We love "Aunt Bamie" so very much, and we are so proud of her accomplishments. It was a wonderful weekend of family and fun. We wouldn't have missed it for the world!

...and then they noticed her tassles...

Justus had some drums, and boy did we play on them :)

On Sunday - Mother's Day - we all went on a hike at a place called "Pocket." We enjoyed throwing rocks in the water and soaking up the beautiful day with family. 

These boys are precious to me...just precious. So blessed to be their mama!

Miles's First Birthday

We celebrated Miles's first birthday on May 4, 2013. We had a few church friends and family over for a Dump Truck Party! It turned out to be a cold, rainy day, but that didn't stop us from having a wonderful time with friends and family. Miles even took his first real steps that morning in preparation for the party - such a big one-year-old boy! I love first birthday parties - I love all parties, but especially the first! To me, it's a celebration that we all made it through the first year (can I get an Amen?!?!). Here are some pictures from that day...

We were able to use the banners from when Carter turned one, and I made Miles his own hat and 12 month picture banner. We gave bubbles, fruit snacks, and sidewalk chalk to our guests.

We decorated the table with dump truck themed food, and used diaper boxes and sheets to add some height/interest to the table. I bought some cardstock and went to town printing things out...pretty much if it is dump truck party themed and made of paper, I designed and printed it from Powerpoint :) 

The food - yummo! Yes, I scrubbed and scrubbed those dump trucks and foil lined them...then they went right back outside :)

It was such a fun time with friends and family. Of course, big brother Carter more than willing to help Miles open his presents.

I always forget how slowly (my kids) smash cake experiences start out, but they certainly get the hang of it :) Again, big brother was more than willing to help out! 

Thankful for loving and supportive grandparents who not only kept Carter and Miles the week before the party, but then traveled all the way here to celebrate with us!!!

On his "real" birthday, we had a family pizza night and he opened his presents from us - a water table and a big huge ball :) He also smashed cupcake all in his mommy's face! Love that boy :)

Happy Birthday, Miles! 

We love you.

One Year!

Miles turned one year old yesterday! He's such a joy to us. 

Thank you, Lord for blessing our family with this precious boy!

Happy First Birthday, Miles! We love you!

Botanical Gardens Playdate

We went to the Botanical Gardens the other day with our playgroup. My camera battery didn't last too long, but I was able to capture some pretty fun memories...

Looking at the birds...poor birds didn't know what had just happened by the time we came and went :)

Then we got to help release the Monarch butterflies in the butterfly house!!! 

This was SO NEAT! Do you see the envelopes full of butterflies above? You opened up the envelope, and they came out and sat really still for a while until they warmed up and flew away. The kids loved it!!!

Carter had a friend on his shoulder for a long time. He was fascinated. Love his sweet face!

Miles tried desperately to get his hands on some butterflies...I tried desperately to save the butterflies :)

We saw turtles.

We got to pet box turtles.

Walked under waterfalls.

Hopped on stepping stones, and YES - ended up in that water :)

We rode see-saws.

The rest of the gardens were filled with the theme "Giant Garden, Little Me." There were really big things to see and play in. I got a few more pictures, but we have to go back sometime with a full camera battery! It was such a fun day.

Enjoying a fun day with my two buddies.